Critical Engagement with Scholarship (PPX103Z)

Postgraduate, 18.0 points

Content

This unit focuses on further developing candidates’ skills in identifying, locating, critically reading and integrating the professional and academic scholarship in their area of study. It develops candidates’ capacity to effectively summarise the existing theoretical and practical knowledge in their area of study, including ethical spiritual and/or theological considerations, and identify the knowledge and/or practice gap their own research will address. The genre of the Literature Review as a piece of writing will be explicitly explored.

Unit code: PPX103Z

Unit status: Approved (Minor revision)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Doctoral

Unit discipline: Professional Practice

Proposing College: School of Graduate Research

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Learning outcomes

1.

Synthesise major theoretical contributions to the relevant field.
2.

Critically assess the relevance of current theories and scholarship to the area of professional interest.
3.

Critically reflect on ethical, theological and/or spiritual questions that inform the field of study.
4.

Identify the gap(s) in the scholarship to be addressed by the candidate’s research.

Pedagogy

By teaching through collegial collaboration and learning via critical reflection conducted independently and in community, the unit engages theory and practice to achieve learning outcomes.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Berry, Ralph. The Research Project: How to Write It. 5th Edition. New York: Routledge, 2004.
  • Booth, W., et al. The Craft of Research. 4th ed. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2018.
  • Bryman, A. Social Research Methods. 5th Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • Cameron, H., and Catherine Duce. Researching Practice in Ministry and Mission: A Companion. London: SCM Press, 2013.
  • Denzin, N. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. 5th Edition. London: Sage Publications, 2018.
  • Fink, A. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to the Paper. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2019.
  • Gray, D. Doing Research in the Real World. 4th Edition. London: Sage Publications, 2018.
  • Rogers, J. "Towards an Indigenous literature re-view methodology: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boarding school literature." Aust. Educ. Res. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-023-00654-4
  • Swinton, J., and Mowat, H. Practical Theology and Qualitative Research. 2nd Edition. London: SCM Press, 2016.
  • Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. Edited by Wayne C Booth, Gregory G Colomb, Joseph M Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T FitzGerald. 9th ed. Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018. (recommended for purchase)

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Annotated Bibliography - Annotated Bibliography

Using citation software (Zotero), candidates build and generate an annotated bibliography of four bibliographic entries (each with an annotation of 200-400 words) that, combined, form a collection of scholarly and other quality resources emerging from their review of literature in their field and that helps them to identify the gap their own research will aim to address. An annotation for each resource is included to: introduce the resource; describe what the author is doing and how; identify how reliable it is; describe the usefulness and limits of the resource in relation to the research topic, themes and/or wider discourse; and offer some conclusion, including how the resource informs the candidate's research.

 1000 20.0
Oral Presentation - Presentation

Candidates deliver a presentation based on the literature review task they are undertaking. The presentation is 20 minutes in length followed by 10 minutes of critical dialogue with their audience (including peers).

 2000 30.0
Essay - Literature Review

Candidates write a literature review that explores, synthesises and critically assesses current theories scholarship in their research topic area (including ethical, theological and/or spiritual questions informing it) and identifies the gap in the literature that their own research will aim to address.

3000 50.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 16 Feb, 2026

Unit record last updated: 2026-02-16 09:09:05 +1100